Macalester Moodle

Is caste a centuries old mode of organization or is it a modern construct produced by colonialism? Is it a structure, an object, or a practice? Does caste exist only among Hindus in South Asia or is it a practice that shapes the lives of billions of people across the globe?

In this course, we will unpack caste as a practice. We will study the ways in which caste works by producing and policing knowledge and by adapting to new historical contexts through its intersections with other hierarchies such as race, gender, and sexuality. We will also track how caste moves across conceptual and physical borders and boundaries. We will scrutinize how knowledge about caste is produced in sources such ethnographies, censuses, and legislation. We will juxtapose these readings with the scholarly and artistic production of anti-caste struggles that have challenged dominant paradigms. In doing so, this course will introduce you to a range of textual and visual archives for examining caste in a global historical context.

Starting in the 19th century, we will study how colonial rule remade existing hierarchies of caste and created possibilities for marginalized communities to resist Brahmanical authority. We will also look at the formation of new caste practices among diasporic communities in the Afro-Caribbean. Finally, we explore the new forms of caste based social mobility and marginalization engendered by contemporary global migrations and movements. In sum, this course will introduce students to new frameworks and primary sources for a global history of caste